Ever Wish you could measure your windows this morning, order your custom-made window shades tonight, and receive an email that your order has shipped two business days later?

Now yourwish becomes reality at

Cellular Window Shades.com!

Introducing the CWS “QUICK SHIP” program: Our most popular fabrics and colors can be yours with less waiting. We still offer *FREE* UPS Ground shipping to the Continental US – but let us know if faster UPS delivery is desired.

Sally in Idaho orders a Top Down Bottom Up (Duofold) shade in color ALTO (see fabric sample) on Tuesday Night – with our new QUICK SHIP program that shade will be heading out the door in two business days. UPS will be standing at Sally’s door five business days later (unless Sally lives in the tiny area that needs one extra UPS day).

Bob in Buffalo wants a black out blind shading that street lamp in his guest bedroom. Gardenia is his color of choice, and he opts for ComforTrack Plus side tracks and the Smoothy Cord Loop lift option. He orders on Friday and by mid-next-week his order is boxed and ready to ship. Bob lives two business days from the manufacturing facilities of CellularWindowShades.com, located in Williston, Vermont.

Our QUICK SHIP is developed around our *POPULAR* fabrics and colors. What are they? Here’s a list:

LIGHT FILTERING fabrics

ALTO (#100) – white

HARP (#101) – cream

MANUSCRIPT (#106) – off white

CAMEO (#108) – warm cream

DANCE (#118) – light taupe

VIENNA WOOD (#124) – dark taupe

FLUTE (#131) – dark grey[while supplies last]

MISTY (#132) – light grey[while supplies last]

BATON (#180) – sand

BLACK OUT fabrics

GARDENIA (#3200)

MUSLIN (#3202)

LATTE (#3224)

How to order? Start with your measurements . . . for windows and skylights. Other shades – even arches – available (“standard” production times apply, although rush requests are considered).

2-Day turnaround means:
This Living Room could have
new shades by the weekend!

Announcing a “Product Improvement” that Production began using last week: Magnets on Cordless Cellular Shades.

Here’s the top of a Cordless Top Down Bottom Up shade – with its *new* magnet system. This upgrade comes automatically with your Cordless TDBU shade:

A shade under assembly (above; you can see the fuzz bar on the work table, ready to be applied) is tilted up to show the strike plate (on the moving middle rail) and its companion magnet. This ensures a TIGHT closure when the “top” is fully raised.

For a Cordless or Cordless TDBU, the bottom / sill — which is an optional upgrade — looks like this:

Some customers may prefer not to screw the strike plates to their sills (one on each side of the shade), which is why we’ve made this an optional upgrade.

Full instructions for installation supplied in every order!

We’ve already gotten useful feedback on this new system: a Customer with a badly-leaning house needed PRIVACY. Their shade tilted into the room when it was lowered, creating unsightly gaps at the sides. These magnets got installed: Voilà, No More Wayward Shade!

In anticipation of Michael Payne’s visit to the Burlington Home Show, we post this YouTube video from Michael’s home base of LA– wouldn’t you like Michael to help with your design issues? That’s the prize for Home Show visitors on February 25 and 26th: an hour’s consultation with design Michael Payne can be yours!

We’ve unearthed some useful links about Michael Payne, so you can become better acquainted with him before his Burlington visit:

information on the Burlington Home Show, February 25 & 26, at the Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center

ENTER the Michael Payne Contest by February 17, 2012. The lucky winner receives a pair of tickets to Friday’s reception and design seminar. Sunday, you’ll have your own 1-on-1 design consultation with Michael!

In describing “Honeycomb Shades” — which is an alternate name for Cellular Blinds or Cellular Shades — the writer recognizes that the Cellular Shades offers “a softer silhouette”, but the comment that they offer a “whisper of good taste and suggest a sophisticated aesthetic preference” made me think about the homes we love to see our shades in.

Looking at the New York Times Home and Garden section, there was a story on a British Bed & Breakfast — one reputed to have “inspired” Shakespeare and his A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But the online story had no photographs! You know, then, that I just had to seek out the B&B for myself.

Can’t you just picture yourself here? Can’t you feel the blazing heat of the fire? Can’t you feel the comfort of the two settees? Don’t you want to walk to the window and peer through those leaded-glass panes?

In my last post, I mentioned the Temporary Shade as a great “fix” for on-the-market homes.

Then I went to lunch…

…And started thinking…

…About homeowners who have told me that having cellular window shades in their home was a GREAT SELLING POINT.

Let us count the ways:

(1) Custom-made blinds look great because they fit the space they were intended to occupy. No gaps at the sides, no overlapping.

(2) Custom-made blinds don’t have easy portability — although wide (or long) shades can be cut down, it’s quite probably as cost-effective to start anew (new shades=new place) than tote the old around, send them in for a cut-down, etc etc.

(3) Wouldn’t YOU like to come into a new home with nice blinds already in the windows?!?

Nowadays, when you’ve got hardwood floors, or original molding, or all-stainless steel appliances to tout, wouldn’t it be wonderful to also point out the privacy-factor and energy-efficiency of cellular blinds to potential buyers?

Cold days of winter will soon be upon us – then
formerly sunny windows invite in winter’s chill

I had a friend who waited until she was READY to put her home on the market to change out wall-to-wall carpeting for hardwood flooring. She got to enjoy the flooring for maybe six months — after all that wear-and-tear of tearing out the old…

One CWS customer “Down Under” — who lives in a BEAUTIFUL home (we’ve seen pictures)! — has had the house on the market, but decided to enjoy their shades while they were still living there. They purchased for the entire house. Now they get the benefits of the shades in lower energy costs (winter and summer), and possess an unusual selling point–

These owners also now know how well the shades have worked (versus nothing in the windows before) and can communicate those thoughts to potential buyers. A real “Win-Win”!

A recent survey of customers about “Why’d you buy in July?” gathered us much information — including the absolute LOVE people have for their Top Down Bottom Up shades.

One reason for this is clearly illustrated in this group of photos. Here’s the after:

Not only does the room have a great “feel” due to the shades being partly UP from the bottom (and how nicely they counter-balance the drawn roman shades at the top of the window! — which happens to camouflage the cellular shades’ headrails), but it also reduces the view of the backyard shed:

I must confess that I simply love all the knotty pine! While the sun streaming through in the middle of winter is advantageous, imagine how HOT this same space would be without the shades once summer hits.

“On Winter nights,” Barb in Colorado tells CWS, “we deploy the cellular shades completely and lower the Roman Shades made from Warm Windows fabric over them. I don’t know the resulting R value, but even with the worst of blizzards and 20 below outside, we feel no drafts or cold spots. Our winter utility bill has gone down dramatically since we installed the cellular shades and Roman Shades combination. The Roman Shades are great but the Symphony Shades completed the job.”

So how does the Top Down Bottom Up accomplish this?

Our post on APARTMENT THERAPY, which addressed the privacy issues solved by the Duofold (another name for the Top Down Bottom Up shade), also addresses handy TIPS for how these shades benefit you in WARM WEATHER as well as COLD WEATHER months.

To read CUSTOMER comments about the Top Down Bottom Up shade, click here.

Received over email yesterday a little tidbit from designer Michael Payne (I love his “Designing for the Sexes” show on HGTV!): Michael discusses adding color to your home decor to “enliven” your living space.

Even a “splash” of color can really give a room a little pick-me-up. My living room is a shell of warm-toned wood: oak flooring and knotty pine panels on the walls. Add to that a fantastic “fan” plasterwork ceiling and a lovely (and large!) brick fireplace flanked by two bookcases and you have the setting of a cosy evening inside while the storms swirl outside.

Color can come anywhere — from throw pillows on sofas and chairs, to a popping piece of artwork. Experiment!

Michael’s advice includes bringing in plants — something blooming (especially in the middle of winter!) is just the tonic for winter blues. Among my favorites are the ever-in-bloom begonia and the “tropical” appeal of the broad-leafed peace lily. See Better Homes & Gardens for recommendations of “24 Beautiful Blooming Houseplants“!

<– Can you imagine having these plush “rose-blush” blossoms crowding in a sunny spot in your home? I can! Add a sharp straw basket planter, or my personal favorite the copper pot and you’ve added ‘zing’ to your room!

Michael stays focused on ‘windows’ by then moving from plants to tassels and curtain tiebacks. Readers of The Scoopknow that the cellular shades on the window can also add that dash of color and pattern. We’ve plans to add some *NEW*light filtering fabric options in the near future — so stay tuned, and come back often to check out the latest thoughts, ideas and problem solutions.